Help! Rookie Error

[Viridis]

Prior to the pandemic I would fly to London on British Airways; BA16 Sydney/Singapore earning 210 Tier Points and then switching to BA12 Singapore/London earning 240 Tier Points. There was no night-stop

BA only flies once daily from Singapore now using the B787 from Sydney so there is no opportunity for a change of gauge.

I had made the change for no other reason that the A380 offered a refreshed cabin from the tired B777 from Sydney and gave me time for a shower in Singapore

Naively, what I didn't realise at the time is that it 'inflated' my Tier Point collection.

I have just booked the same trip using BA16 Sydney/London and note that the round trip only accumulates 720 Tier points, and not the 900 I was expecting. It's not a mistake because I have checked the Avios and Tier points calculator and you do receive the sector points for a split journey but not a though flight.

Rude email sent to BA, obviously, but clearly that will be ignored.

Aside from spending a night in Singapore - which isn't convenient - does anybody have any hacks that I could use to avoid this 20% punishment for using a through flight number

 

[jase05]

Not sure why you would send them a rude email as it’s always the case the TP’s are calculated like that. They are calculated by each sector on a different flight number so previously you get the TP’s for 2 sectors. BA16 is counted as 1 sector all the way from SYD-LHR so the TP’s are calculated over that distance hence the lower number of points.
There is no hack besides breaking up your journey with a night in SIN

 

[mikeact]

Stupid...a rude letter ? It is what it is ...no more.

 

[Viridis]

Not sure why you would send them a rude email …….

Stupid...a rude letter ?

OMG, chill ….

Seriously, is no-one here old enough to remember the sardonic expression “rude letter to follow”

The civil service, large organisations, the military … anyone?

It was a joke, hyperbole …… . For literary effect

I did send a polite query consistent with contemporary expectations of inclusion & respect ….. if that’s okay with you?

As for “it’s always the case” and “it is what it is” ….. hmmmm. The policy is indefensible and discriminatory. Why should an individual receive 20% less benefit than another individual doing exactly the same trip - either with a stopover or a change of gauge. There’s no logic to this approach because one is not charged ‘sector fares’ in either case

My guess is that’s it’s policy inertia and corporate laziness. There’s nowhere on the planet, these days, that’s more than one stop away and these anomalies should be ironed out. The more people that send queries- especially those with elevated FF status - the more chance there is of change occurring.

But change won’t occur between now and when I travel so I was looking for a quick, but temporary fix, ……

Never mind.

 

[jase05]

OMG, chill ….

Seriously, is no-one here old enough to remember the sardonic expression “rude letter to follow”

The civil service, large organisations, the military … anyone?

It was a joke, hyperbole …… . For literary effect

I did send a polite query consistent with contemporary expectations of inclusion & respect ….. if that’s okay with you?

As for “it’s always the case” and “it is what it is” ….. hmmmm. The policy is indefensible and discriminatory. Why should an individual receive 20% less benefit than another individual doing exactly the same trip - either with a stopover or a change of gauge. There’s no logic to this approach because one is not charged ‘sector fares’ in either case

My guess is that’s it’s policy inertia and corporate laziness. There’s nowhere on the planet, these days, that’s more than one stop away and these anomalies should be ironed out. The more people that send queries- especially those with elevated FF status - the more chance there is of change occurring.

But change won’t occur between now and when I travel so I was looking for a quick, but temporary fix, ……

Never mind.

Sorry if it came across that way as I thought you were serious about sending a rude letter. Unfortunately though I can’t see anything changing and with more and more of these flights with short stops but retaining the same flight number this is going to be a common complaint but I don’t see it changing. It happens with the QF flights via ADL/PER etc aswell and I can’t see it being changed. The only option will be to take short stop over if you want “full TP’s”

 

[Viridis]

Just as a follow up to this, I notice that if I were to book with QF the Status Credits for a Sydney/London flight are the same as the Status Credits for Sydney + Singapore + London journey. QF doesn't appear to penalise you in the same way that BA does for travelling through

Sydney London in First is 420SC
Sydney to Singapore is 180SC
Singapore to London is 240SC

That makes more sense to me.

As for the ADL/PER flights, maybe it works differently for international ops

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just as a follow up to this, I notice that if I were to book with QF the Status Credits for a Sydney/London flight are the same as the Status Credits for Sydney + Singapore + London journey. QF doesn't appear to penalise you in the same way that BA does for travelling through

Sydney London in First is 420SC
Sydney to Singapore is 180SC
Singapore to London is 240SC

That makes more sense to me.

As for the ADL/PER flights, maybe it works differently for international ops

Yes but… QF has gone to extraordinarily lengths to assign specific SCs and points for just about every single sector they fly, with myriad exceptions and restrictions. Other airlines are simple… point to point, You can just plug in the distance to great circle mapper and easily work out how many points and SCs you will get for a flight.

On qantas it’s a bit like the big wheel at the casino… round and round she goes, where she stops nobody knows!

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Yes but… QF has gone to extraordinarily lengths to assign specific SCs and points for just about every single sector they fly, with myriad exceptions and restrictions. Other airlines are simple… point to point, You can just plug in the distance to great circle mapper and easily work out how many points and SCs you will get for a flight.

On qantas it’s a bit like the big wheel at the casino… round and round she goes, where she stops nobody knows!

For some of us, this arbitrary factor of the status credit chart works in our favour. Case in point, this year I'll earn 610 status credits on mostly domestic flying on cheap fares in JQ MAX and the occasional red e-deal. Certainly in the US, a case could be made that the award chart is quite favourable indeed. For instance, a roundtrip from Honolulu to Chicago would net you a minimum of 400 status credits in business (connecting in LA or SF).

-RooFlyer88

 

[KathN]

For some of us, this arbitrary factor of the status credit chart works in our favour. Case in point, this year I'll earn 610 status credits on mostly domestic flying on cheap fares in JQ MAX and the occasional red e-deal. Certainly in the US, a case could be made that the award chart is quite favourable indeed. For instance, a roundtrip from Honolulu to Chicago would net you a minimum of 400 status credits in business (connecting in LA or SF).

-RooFlyer88

Wow, how do you get 610 credits from domestic travel ie roughly how many flights / routes are involved? Thanks.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

24 flights were involved on JetStar and Qantas (primarily JetStar flights). Obviously for BA JetStar would be meaningless in terms of earning tier points but for Qantas it can be a cost effective way of earning status credits. This was for a total outlay of roughly $3,000 AUD. Certainly not the cheapest way to earn QF status given I'll be earning 480 status credits on just one trip next year (SYD > AKL in business during a double status credits promotion for ~$1000 AUD return). More details on the (mostly) domestic trips taken here.

-RooFlyer88